After completing a hatrick of victories with an Alessandro Ballan/Damiano Cunego 1-2 in 2008, Italy have failed to produce another World Champion. Worse still, with a generation of talented classics riders pedalling into the sunset, they’ve taken just three top tens in the subsequent seven road races. To put that into perspective, from 1968 to
Category: Previews and Reviews
As part of a series with InsideThePeloton, I’ll be previewing my favourite selections for next Saturday’s World Championship Road Race in Doha. Caught between the race favourites (Cavendish, Sagan, and Greipel) and the longer shots (Groenewegen, Nizzolo, Demare) sits Colombian Fernando Gaviria priced at 12/1 with most bookmakers.
It’s time for the wonderfully nicknamed ‘Race of the falling leaves’. The Italian classic brings the curtain down on the World Tour and gives star riders one last opportunity to make an impression on the UCI rankings. A resolute Vincenzo Nibali used the Monument to save his season last time out but won’t return this
Nairo Quintana held his nerve, and more importantly his legs, to swat away our ever-threatening Tour de France champion Chris Froome. Out-ridden by Quintana on Stage 8, Froome was faced with a 27 second deficit which would continue to grow. The Colombian went on to claim his first Grand Tour stage win since the Giro’s Cima
After a weekend of ludicrously brilliant racing, yesterday’s Vuelta stage brought the GC showdown to a lull and today’s rest day allows for a longer pause for thought. Tomorrow racing resumes with – surprise, surprise – a summit finish on the Alto Mas de la Costa. You could argue the stage won’t play a role
The post-Tour lull has hit harder than in previous years. Both the Grand Boucle and May’s Giro d’Italia were given appropriate fanfare but the Vuelta has almost crept into prominence. The Olympics hasn’t helped matters, with road (and track) cycling continuing to gain in popularity and a dramatic men’s road race stacked full of big
Following the rest day in Switzerland, the riders of the Tour de France will tackle a selection of the hardest Alpine climbs not named Alpe d’Huez. The four days stretching from Wednesday to Saturday can be thought of as; hard summit finish, mountain time trial, even harder summit finish, trio of big climbs.
Sheltering from the rainstorm atop Arcalis last Sunday, many GC contenders would have immediately switched their focus to Mont Ventoux. A rest day would follow Tom Dumoulin’s superb victory, before a departure out of the Pyrenees on Tuesday and one for the sprinters the following afternoon.
Just Pro Cycling 